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New-look Pocono all ready for racing

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A new-look Pocono Raceway awaits the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series when it arrives Friday for the Pocono 500 weekend.

Several safety improvements have been made at the 2.5-mile triangular track in Long Pond. Five-thousand feet of SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier has been installed along the inside of the track from the exit of turn 1 to the entrance of turn 2 and the exit of turn 2 to the entrance of turn 3.

Also, catch-fencing was erected all along the backstretch.

"It gives a much different look and feel out there," Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky said. "It turned out great. It looks really nice."

Some drivers had raised concerns about safety at Pocono following a pair of incidents last year.

On the final lap of the June race, an accident heading into turn 2 saw Kasey Kahne's car become airborne and nearly go over the outside wall, clipping some trees on the other side in the process.

That prompted Greg Biffle to criticize the track in a Sports Illustrated article several weeks later.

"They're going to kill somebody there," Biffle said. "If they don't change that racetrack - maybe not next year, maybe not three years from now - they'll hurt somebody there."

Then in the August race, Elliott Sadler was involved in a crash that saw his car go sliding onto the grass at full speed and slam head-on into an inside metal guardrail. Fortunately, Sadler only had the wind knocked out of him. But the force of the impact was so severe, it tore the engine from his car.

In fairness to Pocono, the track had announced prior to last June's race its intention to replace the inside guardrails with the SAFER barrier - the soft wall designed to absorb the energy from the car when the car hits it.

"But, with only eight to 10 weeks in between our races, you can't get a project like that done in that short a time," Igdalsky said. "So we couldn't do it between races."

The SAFER barrier that Pocono has installed is a new generation, free-standing wall, meaning it is not attached to a concrete wall.

"When you look at it from the front side, it looks exactly the same," Igdalsky said. "But the mountings in the back are different. There's stuff that goes into the ground that holds it up there. It's pretty neat how they built it."

Whereas the old metal guardrails were located 80 feet off the track, the new SAFER barrier is located just 30 feet off the track. That means cars won't be able to slide onto the grass the way Sadler's car did last year.

As for putting up the catch-fencing, Igdalsky said that was something that had been discussed in the past.

"It was a matter of when we were going to do it. It was in the plans," Igdalsky said. "Obviously, when Kasey lifted up, he had the potential to go out. Luckily, he didn't go out, but it expedited our process to get it done."

Not all the changes were on the track. Fans will notice the pit suites on either side of Victory Lane have been torn down. They will be replaced by mobile corporate hospitality suites.

Down the road, even more changes are planned. Igdalsky said next year the track hopes to reconfigure its infield camping because it ran out of spots last year for the August race.

"We're constantly making improvements and repairs, constantly keeping up with what the fans want, the sport wants and what we want," Igdalsky said. "We try to keep everybody happy."

Two Sprint Cup practice sessions at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. are on the schedule for Friday, as well as qualifying for the ARCA Series Pocono 200.

Qualifying for the Pocono 500 is set for Saturday at 11:40 a.m. with the ARCA Pocono to follow at 2 p.m. The Pocono 500 will get the green flag Sunday at 1 p.m.

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